A Day with Adonis

“A Fireman….or a Policeman…or an Astronaut!” Eight year-old Adonis Santiago, is a bright kid with bright ideas for his future. I recently had the privilege of touring around with Adonis to get a glimpse of a day in his shoes and try to better understand a typical day of a young kid in the barrio.

Adonis (father: Christian; mother: Jaqueline; sister: Karen) is currently in the third grade at the TEARS School. At 7am the alarm clock goes off (i.e., mother’s gentle nudging) and after a splash of cold water to the body (water collected down the path at a communal tap) Adonis sits down for a fresh cup of hot chocolate (it’s more of a chocolaty-oatmeal drink). At 7:45, dad is out the door to go get more propane for cooking while mom tucks in Adonis’ uniform just right and gives him a kiss as he heads off to school.

En route to school, Adonis meets up with a few friends for the 5 minute walk over to the T.E.A.R.S. School. For those familiar with the barrio, Adonis and his family live behind the field that is adjacent to the T.E.A.R.S. School. Upon arrival, Adonis is quickly greeted by friends and classmates who quickly engage in a game of tag before lining up for morning prayer and signing the national anthem. On the morning I was with Adonis, he was selected to raise the flag for this regular morning assembly.

After the morning assembly, Adonis heads up to the school’s third floor with his classmates for breakfast–this morning: Cornflakes and milk. Then it’s off to class where teacher, Rosmary Penuela, leads her third grade class in a bible lesson. At 9am, pencil and paper are out and Adonis is in his desk and ready for a line up of Mathematics, Reading & Writing, and Social Studies.

At 10:30am, Adonis and his classmates head outside for a well-deserved recess (On Monday, Wednesday, Friday they have Physical Education) which today included (somewhat) friendly and (somewhat) no-contact game of futbol (soccer).

After recess, while Adonis headed back to class, I took a moment to sit down with School Director, Greisy Roque. Sharing her vision for the students of the TEARS School, Greisy expresses, “We want to give our students a solid foundation. To be ready to transition well academically and socially into other schools after fourth grade. We want students to grow in character during there time here so that when they transition–and are then the youngest students in their new school–they will be able to more successfully face the many changes in environment.”

As I was listening to Greisy, I thought of Adonis sharing his future hopes of being an Fireman, Policeman, or an Astronaut (I had posed the question to him). With this in mind, I asked Greisy, “Do you think that students here at the TEARS school can dream of futures as doctors, teachers, firewomen, policemen….astronauts? Are there too many barriers for students like ours here in the barrio?”

“Sure there are challenges that face our students in terms of future education and career path. Family support, financial pressures, logistical challenges of getting to the various school locations while still trying to work or live with family. The challenges are real but I do believe our students can dream big dreams and they can go for it. To be honest, for me, I have dreams for their futures that include being good husbands and good wives….parents who love their children and are people of integrity and character–not just impressive careers.  With this in mind, we seek to demonstrate and teach our students what it means to be a person of good character who recognizes God in their life…and their life in God.”

At 12:30, Adonis and I were on the move again back to his house for lunch (a job perk!…such good food) Adonis joined his whole family for a great chicken locrio, bean sauce (habichuela) and green salad. During lunch Fey (T.E.A.R.S. Team Member, Rapper, Producer, Pastor, Husband, Father and Videographer) joined us to shoot some video. Sharing about the impact of the TEARS School and El Camino Church in their lives, Jaqueline and Christian shared something while on video that really stuck out to me especially as the day had the “Adonis focus”. The shared that as a family they are grateful for the impact that the T.E.A.R.S. School and the church has had on their lives and in the barrio. “We are especially grateful for the impact the school and church has had in the life of Adonis. He is a prayer warrior. He really spends like two hours every night praying for his friends, classmates, neighbors…everyone! We eventually have to encourage him that it is time to go to bed and he needs to stop praying for now and get some sleep”, they say with a laugh. “We are really proud of him and are thankful for the opportunity he has to go to the T.E.A.R.S. School.”

Normally, after lunch I like to have a bit of down time but this day in Adonis’ shoes did not allow for such a siesta. Instead, it was time to do the dishes, get a plate of lunch up the hill to his grandmother, and then spend some time with dad doing homework and reading while mom is off to work and then later off to university (studying education).

After all this one would image that Adonis surely needs a nap (or perhaps his weary, accompanying biographer deserves one). Such is not the case as Adonis is off to the field to play baseball with friends. Unfortunately, I did need to part ways with Adonis as I had another meeting (not with my pillow…truly) so I did not get to keeping walking….or running!…in Adonis shoes.

However, the time I did spend with him allowed me to see (again) the great impact that the T.E.A.R.S. School is having in the lives of so many young lives. Students like Adonis are able to receive a solid foundation in education that is Christ-centered and focuses on character formation. Many students do not have the supportive family environment that Adonis is blessed with. Many students don’t leave for school with a kiss from mom or have dad at home to do homework with. Knowing that the students do have time each day with their teachers to learn and be loved and encouraged is truly a blessing.

Thank you for your support of T.E.A.R.S. Ministries which enables this education and Christian formation. Thank you for remembering our teachers and students in prayer. Please feel free to leave a note, a question, or a prayer in in the comment section below. We will translate it (assuming it is in English, French, or Creole…I think Robert know Italian) and make sure it gets shared.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 21st, 2009 at 11:07 am and is filed under T.E.A.R.S. School, General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.